Farm Animal Welfare

Farm Stockmanship Human-Animal Relationship Science

The science of human-animal relationships on farms and how positive stockmanship reduces fear and improves animal welfare outcomes.

Key Facts

Fear of humans is a major cause of chronic stress in farm animals
Positive human-animal relationships reduce flight distance and cortisol levels
Stockmanship quality is heritable and trainable in farm workers
Farms with positive human-animal relationships have lower injury rates
Welfare-conscious handling improves productivity as well as animal welfare

Welfare Considerations

Stockmanship - the quality of human-animal interaction on farms - profoundly affects welfare. Animals that fear their handlers show chronic stress responses affecting health and behaviour. Training programmes that develop empathic, patient, and observant stockpeople can transform farm welfare outcomes at low cost.

What You Can Do

Support stockmanship training programmes and welfare qualifications
Choose products from farms with demonstrated human-animal relationship quality
Advocate for stockmanship training as a mandatory component of farm licensing